


Beyond the Pale

by Kharrus



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Multi, Psychological Horror, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23293747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kharrus/pseuds/Kharrus
Summary: Struggling to adjust to the new society realized in Era 3, White Diamond finds a friend in Spinel. Mysterious disappearances from her colonies and an insidious conspiracy at the heart of gem society show what price neglect and arrogance can exact, as the Diamonds finally come to terms with a horror of their own making.
Relationships: Spinel & White Diamond (Steven Universe)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	1. Cold Case

Spinel skipped lightly along the silent halls in the Diamond Palace. Though her life had changed (and HOW) in the past year since coming to terms with Pink's new form in Steven, and with the Diamonds coming to *her* of all gems for attention, she was genuinely happy for the first time. Before the Big Long Wait, she had a purpose certainly, but she didn't know what things like "catharsis" or "contentment" meant, or any of the other C-words she'd learned in the past year. But she was happy, and she wasn't alone any more. This is why she chose to skip down the hall today.

Two of White Diamond's Amethyst guards standing outside the doors of the throne room caught her eye, and she moved towards them. "Hiya Amethysts!" she called, waving at them enthusiastically from across the hall. Waving back with a cautious smile, the closest one turned to her friend and chuckled about something. Bouncing over to them, she turned around towards them, keeping her hands behind her back as she leaned in to stare at them. "Watcha guys doin here? Holding the wall up?" Chuckling again, the amethyst to her right shook her head, smiling back at her. "Nah the walls are fine, Spinel. Last time I had to hold one up was at Yellow's place a few decades back after it caught Yellow singing to herself and got reprimanded for eavesdropping. We're here for White, but I'm not sure why. Never asked too many questions, so doesn't bother me."

Curious, she looked through the gap between the wall and the door to the throne room, which had been left ajar. Leaning back in her throne at the top was White Diamond, who had one of her giant legs crossed over the other, leaving her dress to spill down to the floor. How Pink ever managed to sit on the throne without being covered was a question Spinel had been meaning to ask Blue next time she saw her.

White wasn't smiling, or even looking at anything in particular in the empty room, Spinel saw as she cautiously walked into the vast room. White looked entirely absorbed in her thoughts as the stared blankly at nothing, and didn't move at all. _She didn't even notice me coming in. Is she ok? _S__ pinel thought to herself, walking over, suddenly concerned. While Blue was easy enough to make laugh since she asked for Spinel's company the most, and though Yellow could be found easily working in the same places at the same times, she was opening up more that she wasn't throwing herself wholesale into her work any more, and allowed Spinel's interruptions as long as she was alone.

White had always kept to herself, except when spending time with Blue and Yellow. Both of them, though she thought to herself after continuing to walk towards White. They never meet with her alone.

"H-hey there, White! How's it going?" She said as she waved a little nervously at White Diamond. A few seconds passed until White finally blinked, and turned to her, expressionless still. "Spinel. I was just thinking about you." White said absentmindedly. Blinking again as if remembering that she wasn't alone, White sat up slightly straighter, and smiled as she folded her arms into her lap, uncrossing her legs as she leaned in slightly to turn her gaze down at Spinel, still lighting up the room with her bright, pale glow.

"Aw shucks; just good stuff I hope. What's up?" Spinel played looking bashful, looking back up at White's reaction. Several awkward seconds ticked by, till White blinked her massive eyes again, registering conversation and responding out of sync. "Recently Blue and Yellow mentioned that I should try getting out of my Head more when I'm not working. Processing data records and logs through the ship was more efficient, but it feels better to be more involved with them. Why don't you have a seat?" A block manifested itself underneath Spinel as she sat down, attentive.

"You see, I've been gone so long that most of my colonies became self-sufficient. The Morganites and Sapphires, the Emeralds and Chalcedonies, even the Beryls had gone on to do their jobs faithfully for aeons without even a word from their Diamond. Did you know what happened when I called them for the first time in 7000 years?" she asked rhetorically. Spinel respectfully shook her head in the negative.

White's smile fell. "I had to wait on them to receive it. For nearly a half hour until a Morganite opened the line, and stammered out something vaguely resembling an apology. Apparently, the room used for the Diamond Line with Homeworld had been abandoned for such a long period of time, that a nearby river had worn the surrounding stone down after a few years of heavy flooding and collapsed nearly half the building. They didn't repair it." Spinel's mouth hung open, utterly taken aback.

"Wh-what? Didn't they send reports back or somethin'? Why wouldn't they care about something so important if they were in your court? That's...wow, jeez." Spinel felt her hand on her mouth, disturbed.

White sat back, lowering her eyelids as her expression fell further. "The Morganite stammered out another apology off to me that I didn't hear, but I distinctly remember what she told me next. She told me that because I had been silent for as long as I had, the local sapphires had taken it upon themselves to organize a council together of nobles from my court on their planet to run operations.

"Yellow had assigned a few Chalcedonies and Zircons to oversee quota demands, but the wasn't a single gem from the first era there. None of the gems I had assigned originally to administer the colony still existed at their last postings. Do you know why this is significant?" Spinel paused, realizing an answer was actually expected of her. She gulped before seizing on an answer her mind offered up to her. "B-because it means that they reassigned themselves without permission from any of the Diamonds? Why would they do that?"

White stared at Spinel blankly for almost a full minute this time, utterly expressionless before blinking again. Spinel shifted on her seat, dramatically more uncomfortable. "You see," White began slowly, almost apprehensive. "The sapphires advised their Morganite all at once that they had a vision. They saw a decrepit colony where every gem was waiting at their last assignment, mindlessly continuing it with the expectation of another order, or new input when nothing would come.

"They told the Morganite and the others assembled that it fell on the local planetary leaders and governors to administer the colony as best they saw fit until told otherwise by myself, or one of the other diamonds.

"They acted accordingly, but correctly. I had been absent. The Authority hadn't abandoned them, but they didn't need us because they never reported any issues. No environmental catastrophes, no resource shortfalls. Every report filed was done perfectly consistent with quota demands, existing laws, and updated periodically. This was done on six of my colonies, where the sapphires absolved the need of any direct input from homeworld because their bureaucracies ran flawlessly. But there was something dreadfully wrong with all of them, Spinel." White leaned in, raising her hands to her chin as she crossed them thoughtfully as she stared down at Spinel intensely.

Spinel was confused, and felt oddly sick as White paused before continuing with her story. "I mentioned that all the first era gems I had assigned there were missing from their original posts. I requisitioned transfer logs over from Yellow, and I found that..." White's voice trailed off as she blinked slowly again, pausing just a bit too long, dragging the note out into awkwardness before continuing.

"I found that each of them had been reassigned to another one of the six colonies. Repeatedly. Each one was logged to have been there for several years at a time and cycled around. Reports from each of them did not contradict themselves, but it is an impossibility for the same gem to be assigned in two places at once, and exist in neither. Yellow was enraged when I brought it up to her, and she has every right to since they slipped this past HER. She told six Emeralds and Chalcedonies to look into this immediately as it was a crisis that so many cornerstone officials had simply vanished. I received their report with her earlier after four months of waiting while we pieced together what happened."

"What did they find? What happened to all the missing gems?" Spinel said anxiously, now worried more than frightened. White blinked several times now, remaining completely still. _Ok, something is definitely wrong with her,_ Spinel decided to herself.

"White, what happened? Are you ok? What's wr-" A violent twitch on White's right eye made Spinel jump back, as it looked almost like her face had glitched. Then it did.

White Diamond dug her nails into the metal of her throne, her furious grip twisting the metal loudly as it dawned on Spinel that what she was seeing was genuine, blind fury that White could barely process, let alone express in her outward form.

"They. were still. Gone. The Emeralds interrogated those in charge, and those whose positions were held by the missing. The Chalcedonies scanned records, and found absolutely NOTHING!" The last word punctuated so loudly that it shook the room. Glancing back, Spinel noticed the Amethysts were nowhere to be seen.

White continued, with her brilliant form twitching and vibrating as she sought to contain and reconcile her outrage. "They documented EVERYTHING. Every date. Every assignment and action checked off and queued properly. But they were missing all the same. A Morganite who was said to be in charge of one of the colonies...didn't exist at all.

She was completely fabricated from documents that she herself wrote and had been verified in triplicated by forty-seven other Chalcedonies and Zircons who had collectively sworn they saw her.

"She could not be found. A governor of the third oldest colony in the entire Gem empire didn't exist.

"Everything was confirmed with every official to have been documented correctly, and there were even recordings of this individual during events, opening new districts, even overseeing the introduction for four new gem lines during the Inclement era.

"Yellow ordered this individual to be found, and the head of planetary security for the past three and half THOUSAND years came up to her, holding air, and told her straight to her face that she had found the missing Morganite. Every other native of that colony that was present saw her, but none of the others did. I almost shattered them on the spot for mocking us. Yellow...Yellow..." Spinel stood up, alarmed as White closed her eyes, and focused on stabilizing herself. When she opened her eyes again, she had raised her hand to cover her mouth, covering disgust. A tear fell from her right eye, and promptly reversed itself back into her eye.

"Yellow asked very calmly why this particular Beryl had thought it worthwhile to stage such a large joke in the middle of a serious investigation. The Beryl stepped back, looked to where she was holding, and repeated that the she was holding the Morganite here, and she would explain herself. There was a crowd there, Spinel. Hundreds of gems, and do you know how they reacted? They laughed. They thought YELLOW was making a joke.

"They acted as if the governor was right there, responding to silent, invisible cues. We thought we had finally lost our minds. Our attendants assured us before we were rebuked again and lost our temper that they were not seeing this individual either, and were equally confused. A Peridot we brought with us for appraising technical issues suggested that the population might have been tampered with in some way, or had their perceptions overwritten by some illusion or technology."

Spinel cautiously sat down, and watched White Diamond maintain her composure despite the rage dripping from her words. Reminding herself that she was with a friend who wouldn't hurt her if she could help it, she spoke up. "That would be a logical assumption, especially from a Peridot. What happened next?"

White shivered, with her eye twitching slightly. She remained silent and glared at the entrance to the hall. Spinel gulped again, and spoke up, trying to help this time. "Is...there anything I can get for you to help? You're upset and...well, I'm worried for you." Taken aback, White sat up and inhaled sharply, looking down at her as she blinked rapidly a few times, muttered something to herself, and cleared her voice as she settled down as quickly as she could manage.

"No...no thank you. I'm sorry, but this is very upsetting to me, and I need to be more considerate of how I'm acting. It's from being alone so long...I know you understand. It's why I appreciate you being here to listen, dear."

Cautiously, Spinel walked over to White, and laid a supportive hand on the giant Diamond's foot despite barely coming up past her ankle. Smiling generously, White returned the gesture by reaching down and gently patting her on the head with two fingers. Giggling from relief, Spinel hopped back to her seat.

"If you're suuure it's ok, you can keep telling me about this, it's alright."

White sighed, and sank into her throne, resting an elbow on the left arm of the throne and covered her face before rising up again to continue.

"Naturally Yellow had already been open to this idea since it had all been off since the beginning, but again...I had been gone for such a long time. I hadn't gone off-world since before you existed, even. Yellow was helping keep me in my depth, even though neither of us would have said it openly to each other.

"We went went back to her ship and called a few more of the bewildered officials back with us to have them tested. Nothing was wrong with them physically. The Peridots were beginning to get frustrated as they so easily do, so I suggested that the particular Beryl from earlier be cross-examined by one of our Zircons.

"Old 7, as he is named by his peers, was a first-era gem, and is one of the finest legal minds and philosophers in the Empire, and likely the finest cut of Zircon to ever exist. I requested him personally on this investigation, you see." White had shifted back to a more comfortable position, and her gaze turned to the entrance, where several more Amethysts had gathered, and were talking to each other attentively.

"Seven, being one of the few pure white Zircons left, then asked the Beryl when the first time she met this Morganite was. The Beryl looked at her and said that she was absolutely certain that it was era Two at exactly 478 cycles prior, on the eighth Apex during the Circumpolar Advent. She was assigned there after serving on Homeworld faithfully for 222 cycles as and adjunct administrator for an Axial cut Sapphire of Blue Diamond's court. Blue confirmed this immediately after we asked her remotely.

"Seven told her in no uncertain terms that this was a joke, a test, or anything other than a serious investigation directly being run by the Authority. The Beryl asked for that to be repeated, and Yellow stood up and barked-erm, forcefully stated that the Zircon present was of adequate volume, and someone in the Beryl's position obviously should not have an issue with understanding such a straightforward statement."

White paused, and looked down at Spinel, suddenly looking more concerned. "I know you're here to listen dear, but this subject would be considered to be a bit technical to most, even if it is bizarre. Are you alright so far?" It was Spinel's turn to blink this time.

"I uh...hehe I'm actually ok. I'd done a lot of technical reading in...in the garden, of all places. Ooof, ok gimme a minute here." Spinel shivered a bit, remembering her least favorite place in the universe.

"I didn't just...wait. There's an archival repository there for reading since it's technically a leisure palace, so if I couldn't stand...standing...I'd read. Mostly dry technical manuals written by peridots, law written by Zircons, blah blah blah regulation this or record 7854489 that, but it was all there. I didn't...I couldn't leave. She told me to wait, and well...I was made for her. I had nowhere else to go.

"I learned a lot, and it helped me stay." White had raised an eyebrow, and nodded approvingly.

"Commendable I admit, but from what I have come to understand, it was unnecessarily cruel to you. Starlight...Pink, actually didn't take very good care of anything we gave her. It was what she made that she ended up-oh dear, now I'm doing it again." White laughed, in her reflexive, practiced, and still utterly flat tone, then sighed again, circumspect.

"You are here as my...as my friend. I suppose we should have considered the value in that before making only one of you."

"You...what? Only one?" Spinel repeated.

"Yes. You are unique." said White. "While Amethysts and others certainly have the personality for guarding minds and hearts as well as anywhere they're assigned in a professional capacity, you were designed specifically for Pink. Yellow and I had considered making another Spinel for Blue, but we agreed it would simply remind her of Pink too much, and dropped the matter. We lost track of you after the rebellion, and since you never came home of your own accord, assumed you were lost with Starlight when she, ah...left."

Spinel swallowed the kernel of anger that had risen back down her throat. "Wasn't there anyone at all? Anyone who needed another Spinel?" White paused, and closed her eyes as she smiled. "Looking back on myself, I certainly could have done better with you from the beginning." Spinel blushed.

"Aw shucks boss; that's sweet, thanks." With both of them laughing now, an Amethyst strolled into the room, and cleared her throat to get their attention. "Yellow Diamond requests to come see you, White Diamond." the unusually tall Amethyst stated formally. White paused again, almost frozen as the seconds ticked by without a response. Finally, she tilted her head and smiled. "Certainly; she is bidden to come see me in the throne room. Tell her that Spinel is here as well, we have a story to fill her in on."

Yellow Diamond marched up the steps to the Diamond Palace as she had countless times before. Yellow Diamond marched almost everywhere still, and was more self-conscious than most about the way she walked; always careful to maintain the image of the consummate professional to be relied upon, even if such things as armed conflict and judicial matters had relaxed significantly since the reforms. She wasn't ready to relax as easily as Blue, but was still better at it than White.

Yellow thought to herself as she heard White's voice coming from the throne room talking to Spinel again.Speaking of White, I'm glad she's getting out more. She wasted her talents staying inside her head all the time like she used to.  
Marching over to the entrance to the Throne Room, Yellow faced White, giving a curt bow without saying anything. Looking up briefly to Spinel, she smiled warmly.

"Sunlight dear, do come in. I was telling Spinel about the incident on Carses I."

Yellow grimaced before she spoke. She tried to grimace less these days, but it was still the face she found herself wearing too often.

"That mess...In any case, it relates to why I'm here. Your Zircon had been reviewing records with Blue and I, and we've made a breakthrough." White's eyes picked up on this news, focusing her gaze intensely on Yellow Diamond.

"Report."

Yellow cleared her throat, still looking annoyed. "It seems that after the council was called by the Sapphires present on Carses that all kindergarten activity was finally ceased, although this was expected from projections and happened precisely when it was supposed to. What we didn't expect was to find that a mere week prior to the shutdown, all but a single Peridot from the Prime Kindergarten on Carses were severely injured or shattered in an industrial accident."

Spinel's gaze followed White Diamond's eyebrows as they climbed above the gem on her forehead. Yellow continued.

"Seventy-three Talcum workers, eighteen Rubies, two Topazes, and...one Sapphire and Chalcedony." The names of the last two were left hanging in the air as a wordless understanding passed between the two giant Diamonds. "The Chalcedony...what was her designation?" White asked warily.

"Chalcedony AP-05, Equatorial cut. Assigned by you in Era 1."

White held her gaze with Yellow for several seconds before a loud crunching sound filled the hall, as her hand crushed the stone making up the armrest underneath her hand, which was now shaking.

"The Chalcedony...and one of the local sapphires killed. She could have seen it coming. She wasn't duped she was...oh no. Yellow, which is the most recent Sapphire Blue Diamond visited with on homeworld?" Yellow's eyes narrowed.

"Sapphire 201, Axial cut A. From Carses."

Blue Diamond was blissfully relaxed. Her pearl was combing her hair from her shoulder as she soaked in the pool, as one of her Sapphires sang to her. This older sapphire had an exquisite voice, and was encouraged by her peers to express it as a gift to Blue Diamond as part of the New Talents initiative, where Steven had encouraged Gems to cultivate abilities outside of their profession, even if they wanted to continue working where they were comfortable.

Her aches and worries flowed out of her, gently filling the room with the glow of her ease and contentment as she let herself relax. She noticed that even though there was still just the single sapphire singing, she could hear several voices from her, overlapping one another as part of the sublime melody she was hearing. She could not quite place it, but it was familiar to her in a way she couldn't explain. Her thoughts drifted off, and she ignored the insistent tugging of her Pearl entirely now. She could barely feel a thing.

There was only the song.

Spinel rested on White Diamond's shoulder as they traveled in the bubbled together with Yellow Diamond, whose fists where shaking in rage and sparking electricity. "I don't know WHAT they're planning, or WHAT has actually been going on beneath our notice, but they WILL NOT harm my Blue. This Sapphire will regret deceiving her Diamonds!"

White was remarkably calm, Spinel noticed. She wasn't shaking, twitching, or showing any of the emotional tics from earlier. She was completely in control.

"Sunlight, I need you to restrain yourself. We are going into a complete unknown, and we cannot react to anything in any way other than logically and decisively. The Sapphire may not have hostile intentions, or even be aware of what is going on. Calm yourself, for Blue's sake."

The shaking subsided, but the lightning from Yellow's fists did not abate, but instead traveled up her arm to her Gem on her chest. It crackled with energy as Yellow's eyes cut a focused glare in front of her, ready for anything.

"I will restrain myself insofar as I will not rush to judgement. But I will NOT restrain my wrath if Blue is injured. I will defer to you after that."

The bubble opened in front of Blue Diamond's quarters, and Spinel gasped as she saw the entire facade had frozen solid. An ice wall meters thick blocked their passage. Yellow's eyes flew open, and with an ear-splitting roar of fury she drove her fist into the ice wall, cracking it into a spider web of fractures that quickly attempted to seal themselves with the surrounding moisture.

Rearing back again, Yellow's lightning arced out from her gem and covered her arms, pooling in unimaginably bright points of light at her fists. With the sharp scent of ozone in the air and the servant and wall gems that could move ducking for any cover they could find, Yellow cried out, blasting the offending ice wall with the full strength of her lightning.

"HRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

Blinded for a few seconds, Spinel coughed as the vapor from the former ice cleared, with a smoking crater on the top half of the door and a terrified looking Statue gem having barely missed obliteration.

Now running forward, White and Yellow slammed both the doors open to Blue Diamond's chambers, and stopped short.

The entire room had been covered in ice. Several meters thick in some places, Spinel gaped in horror at the sight she saw at the back of the room. A ring of Sapphires, all made out of ice surrounded what was Blue Diamond's bathing pool, with a massive, life-sized replica of Blue Diamond lying peacefully back in the pool.

Her Pearl had poofed, and was encased in a similar ice replica, with her gem rapidly being absorbed into the ice sculpture. It had begun to crack.

"BLUE WHA-" Yellow started, before being completely shouted over by White Diamond.

"THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!" she yelled loudly as light shone out of her eyes. Throwing her arms outward in front of Yellow she blasted the room with her light, instantly nullifying the magical ice that had overcome it.

Cracks appeared on every surface rapidly before the ice instantly reformed back into water, flowing back into the pool or disappearing into the moist air. All the Sapphire replicas and Blue Diamond had disappeared, and the gem of her faithful Pearl tumbled through the air, down towards the hard floor.

Leaping off of white on her corkscrew legs and extending as far as she could reach, Spinel pushed her flexible body to its painful limits as she grasped for Blue Pearl's gem before it could shatter on the ground. Grasping it tightly, her elasticity snapped her forwards and she tumbled forward into the wall, sumersaulting before crashing into it, clutching Blue Pearl to her chest.

"Oof...gotcha! She's al-YIKES that's cold owowowow-" Spinel flinched as the malicious frost that had tried to dig its way into the crevices of Blue Pearl's gem attacked her hands, and she felt herself gently but swiftly picked up by White Diamond.

Dropping Blue Pearl into White's floor-sized palm, beams of pure white light shot out from her eyes, scouring the cursed ice off of her pearl. The cracks were still there.

"Quickly, into the pool!" Yellow shouted as they all clambered inside. White moved her hand over to Yellow who grasped it shakily, as they closed their eyes and carefully lowered the Pearl into the water, concentrating. After a few seconds, they lifted her out of the water, with the cracks healed. With a soft but steady light, Blue pearl emerged outside of her gem, shaking on White and Yellow Diamonds' hands.

"There there, dear Pearl; you're safe now. Tell us what transpired" White said gently.

Pearl was not responding, and continued to shake violently, clutching herself.

"Your Diamonds are here now. What happened here? Where is Blue?"

Chattering, Blue pearl began to stammer softly.

"I...I...I can't...so cold...I tried...no more..."

Yellow leaned in, urgently now.

"What did the Sapphire do? What happened to Blue? WHERE ARE THEY?!" She began to yell, causing the small pearl to shriek and cover herself, making Yellow back off in alarm.

"Spinel...perhaps someone smaller?.." White intoned at her.

Spinel knelt down to the terrified Pearl, gently resting her hand on her back.

"It's ok, you're safe now. The Diamonds are here. How can we help you? Do you need to be warmed up?"

Still shaking, the Pearl nodded slowly, and White handed her over to Yellow Diamond, who held her gently in her hands, heating them. Blue Pearl's shivering finally stopped.

"T...thank you. I'm so sorry...I couldn't stop it...I tried to warn her please don't be mad! Her voice...the Sapphire's song put her to sleep, and I couldn't wake or move her, then the ice...the ice came..." sobbing into her hands now, Blue pearl wailed in despair, until Spinel came over again and gave her a light hug.

"Nobody's mad at you; you tried to help even though you couldn't. We're just glad you're still alive; did the Sapphire say or do anything after the ice came?"

Pearl's crying slowed down as she tried to speak through the tears.

"I can't...she...the ice covered everything so fast, but..but she wasn't there. She kept singing that lullaby, and she split. I never saw where her gem was, even after she turned into the ice dolls. They held a final...note? A word I can't remember, and overtook the entire room in ice. It...it pushed My Diamond's form back into her gem, and when I couldn't wake her, I tried to defend her from attack. One of them grabbed my gem around my stomach...Oh stars it was so COLD! The cold...no..."

Squeaking and falling into her shoulder, Blue Pearl began sobbing again as Spinel held her, looking up at the Diamonds, worried.

Blue Diamond had vanished completely, without a trace.


	2. Dreams of the Dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait; had other priorities to attend to while the world's been going to hell here. I'm ok now, so I'm putting another chapter in. I'll be trying to keep updates to a week or two if possible, But I am writing this as I go, not uploading pre-written content. Enjoy. :)

Carses I was, in all respects, a utopia. The absence of the Diamonds came about from the static nature of their colony; a geologically dead world that had long since had its entire surface developed with the gleaming city-scape that the world was famous for. An abundance of talent with no problems to face had led to their culture stagnating thousands of years ago, with the gems on their world relying entirely on new visions and ideas from the Sapphires of Carses I providing the only new source of inspiration in a core world crippled by stasis.

There were no quotas, grand projects, or goals to shape Carses. It was as complete as Homeworld in its purpose, being as fully developed and feasibly exploited as it could be. Art and science were encouraged as its major exports, but the weight of aeons of unchanging, unrelenting boredom and monotony choked any spark of inspiration and emotion out of this colony that had utterly succumbed to ennui.

The streets were criss-crossed with channels and deep rivets, marking the routes that gems bound to their limited routine wore down over the aeons, walking the same paths on the same routes for the same tasks, unchanging in any way. It would not have been uncommon to see a Carnelian or Amethyst constable stuck in a trench taller than she was, having made the same rounds for so long that they had unwittingly carved out their route into the streets they were assigned to protect, in pointless, unceasing vigilance.

It came to pass one night like any other, a bored sapphire had fallen asleep after spending the entire day watching the clouds roll by, attempting to find some meaning or analogy in their shapes that could inspire her.   
Cloistered in palaces of the finest stone, and filled with fabric, art, and the best technology the Empire had to offer, a Topaz who had stayed still at her station guarding her mistress' door for over four thousand years in perpetual ignorance at the meaninglessness of guarding such a safe location was violently roused from her stasis when she heard an unexpected noise.

The Sapphire was screaming, caught in the clutches of a cruel night-terror. 

Bursting through the door, the Topaz immediately scoured the room, looking for an enemy, and upon finding none, attended to the Sapphire tangled in her sheets that was equally wrapped up in hysterics.   
"Hey, hey it's ok now. It's just a dream, it can't hurt you, please wake up." She said as she lightly shook the wailing sapphire, still in the grasp of the night-terror.

"Sapphire, you're ok, please wake up."

"My lady, nothing's hurting you, please stop screaming."

"I can't...I don't know what to do. Wake up now."

For over an hour, the Topaz tried everything she could in her limited experience to rouse the Sapphire from her sleep in an appropriate manner.  
Exhausted of all her options, she raised the official alarm for the palace complex, calling the guards out and waking the Sapphires, all of them utterly perplexed at the concept of an emergency in the middle of the night.

Bleary-eyed, the eldest sapphire and her Emerald seneschal approached the Topaz who had raised the alarm, curious but not fearful or angered in any way due to the situation's utter novelty to them.

"Topaz 42, Epsilon grouping of the Eighth Non-bisected cut. What in White Diamond's glowing noggin is all this about?" The Emerald growled out, attempting to sound intimidating but instead sounding as tired as she looked.

"Ma'am! My Sapphire is having a terrible nightmare I can't wake her from. She is...has been, screaming in fear and I have tried everything I am allowed to do to wake her without success. The situation called for additional outside intervention, and given that my charge is under attack against an enemy I cannot fight, I called a general alarm to bring anyone who could possibly help her out."

Utterly confused, the Emerald blinked and stared without saying anything for a few seconds until both she and her Sapphire could hear screaming coming from the room nearby. With the sound finally reaching their ears, the Emerald snapped to attention after her Sapphire yelped in surprise, putting her hand to her mouth and rushed into the room. With the lights already on from the Topaz, They saw their Sapphire thrashing violently in the bed, still screaming. The emerald bolted to the bedside, but fell over onto the ground in terror after a blood-curdling scream belted out of the tormented Sapphire's mouth

More Sapphires and other noble gems clustered in the doorway, looking on in distress and confusion at the spectacle. A smaller sapphire pushed through them, her single eye creased in a glare in front of her as she fought to see.

"Out of the way, out of the way! What is going-"

"IT'S NOT RIGHT!!! OH STARS IT'S NOT RIGHT PLEASE STOP!! I'M BEGGING YOU MAKE IT STOPP PLEEEAASE!!! AAAAAAAA!!!!" The sapphire in the bed interrupted her, screamed in distress. Everyone looked on in shock. The screams became increasingly louder until suddenly, unexpectedly, Sapphire poofed. 

Silence fell over the entire group. A few shouts could be heard in the distance as nearby buildings woke up in response to the confusion, but a pall hung over everyone present. Shakily moving forward, the Topaz reached down, and picked up the small gem from the bedsheets, crying through her visor.

"What...what happened? Oh Sapphy I'm so sorry...I wish I knew how to help."

Sobbing into her hand, the small sapphire floated over, and gently picked up the gem, staring at it in stricken silence. One by one, the other sapphires filed in, grouping around her and speaking in hushed tones about what had happened. A few Emeralds shook their heads and walked back to their rooms, while others sent messages out to the appropriate gems. Nobody could quite process what they had witnessed.

_what is this what happened to her_

_the screaming was horrible why would she-_

_-never saw anything like this, never saw anything about this_

- _couldn't help her, useless cut of_ _-_

_-makes no sense. Everything makes sense why-_

_-what did she see? what was wrong?_

Whispers permeated the halls. Over the next week as the sapphire lay in her gem, rumors and speculation ran rampant, with everything from psychic assaults to sapphires finally reaching the limits of their abilities being spoken of.   
  
The Morganite governor of Carses was called in by the sapphires, and stared warily at the poofed gem on the pedestal, awaiting some kind of resolution to this bizarre situation to reveal itself. Reaching her orange hand up to the side of her head, she sighed as she sought to understand what was happening on her planet, but didn't feel like she wanted to know why given its nature.

"No, I don't think this merits contacting any of the Diamonds. We have no reason to believe this is an attack, and despite how out of the ordinary and alarming it is, it doesn't mean anything until she wakes up and tells us what she saw. If she can, of course. You say nothing physically injured her?" she asked, looking at the lead Emerald in incredulity.

"No, I was there. She kept screaming louder and louder then...gone. Nothing touched her form, it's like she...like she fled from it the only way she could. I'm sorry, this doesn't make any sense to me either, my Morganite."

Still staring at the Sapphire gem on the pillow, she nodded absentmindedly, raising her hand as she peered forward. 

"Tell the other Morganites I-wait, do you see that?"

The sapphire had begun to glow, and levitated up slowly. Her Topaz came running over, and a few of the other sapphires present gently floated over, as the gem lowered itself and formed the stricken Sapphire, who was sitting completely still, her arms covering her as she faced the ground as if to cover her from an attack.

"Sapphy it's me! Are you ok? What happened?" The morganite rushed down to them as the Topaz picked her up and held her limp form. 

_Something is still wrong with her. She's not_ _moving_ Morganite thought to herself. The other Sapphires clustered around the huge Topaz, raising their arms up to embrace their sister as she was lowered down to them. Not speaking a word, they hugged her, stroked her hair, doing anything they could to comfort her and coax her out of her stupor. A hand twitched as she stirred.

"Sapphy!" Topaz exclaimed, smiling briefly before backing away to let the other Sapphires in.

_What happened are you ok?_

_you gave us a scare tell-_

_-you don't have to tell anything, you're safe don't-_

_let her breathe, give her room. Look at her her eye-_

_-oh my stars you're right it's-_

"Missing. Her eye is blind. She reformed, so that's a choice; why would she blind herself?" The Morganite said as she saw the featureless orb that was now the Sapphire's eye

a light croaking sound could be heard from Sapphire. Everyone went quiet as she tried to speak.  
  


"...already dead. Nothing to see if everything's already dead. I don't need my eye, I only need my Sight. No distractions. Sister-corpses still don't get it."  
  
Shocked, they moved back as a few of them gasped at what she said. Suddenly afraid, Morganite nonetheless stepped forward, confident in her authority.   
  
"Sapphire. Tell us exactly what you saw. We will do our best to understand and to listen, but we will also do our best to act."

Giggling now, the blind Sapphire pulled back her bangs, revealing her sightless orb for everyone to see now. Her hair hung messily off to one side, strands tangled together in the front. She looked unhinged, and Morganite swallowed as her trepidation began to rise.

"Act...you, any of you, acting? Doing? You...it's all shadows. None of us are real any more; we didn't need to be. We carry on, carry on doing nothing, the last thing we did like the last gasp of some filthy organic. No rain. No wind. Even the clouds are a lie; projected by satellites made by artists desperate to recapture life in a dead world filled with dead gems.

"Never...never happening. The light, the heat, all of it; an act without action. Nothing to do that hasn't been done before. I saw...I saw..."

Trembling now, her hand shook as she clawed through her hair, pushing it back and straightening it out.

"I saw it all. I saw how we were when we were alive, vibrant with new ideas and pride. So much arrogance, so much dimness from beings of light that we are. Dirt and rock hewn from the ground, fashioned into so many forms, but never seeing, always blind. Do you understand? Do you know? It never mattered. This city, the kindergartens, the quotas, the...monuments. We're all rocks no matter how we shape ourselves...no desire, no love, no peace.

"All of us walking the same paths, blind. Redundant existences, pointless positions, and dead before we're born, all because...all because we've achieved everything we set out to. We're perfect, but...we're done. We've reached the end of it. I don't want to be alive if I can't...if I can't feel anything. Oh stars...at least I can feel fear now. At least I can feel...disgust. What is this...indignation? Rage? It's wrong...WRONG WHY-"

Her shouting was cut short as an Emerald stepped into the group. Her rakish green hair pushed back under jewelry, she struck a more elegant poise than her kin, covered in a dress instead of a uniform. She knelt down and gently put her hand on the blind Sapphire.

"Sapphy...It's going to be alright. I don't know why this has happened to you, but I want to understand because I want to help. It hurts to see you like this. I..."  
  
She paused as tears started forming in the corners of her eyes, and she bit on her lip with her sharp teeth. She lowered her hand into the blind Sapphire's palm, locking fingers as she held her hand.  
  
"I...I think I understand what to do. I'm not afraid any more if it means you'll be happy. Please, come to me. I'm here, with you, always. You don't have to be alone."  
  
The blind Sapphire stopped shaking, and held Emerald's hand.  
"Emerald...My first and only Emerald, my dearest I remember now. You are the answer, as you have always been. My emerald light; only thing I can live for. You are the way, my love."  
Gasping, she lurched forward into her embrace, and the crowd gasped as the two began to glow brightly, then as their forms melded together into a fusion. The other sapphires backed up, and the form of the two began to take shape, glinting across the spectrum before settling into deep shades of indigo and turquoise as her form coalesced, now taller than even the Topaz who looked on in wonder and joy.

A newness stood before the unassembled crowd. Morganite, gaping in incomprehension at what she was seeing, blinked repeatedly to try to process what her eyes were telling her. She was _aware_ of fusion. It was not something she had ever seen before, as it was not something needed. Gems joined forms together in times of battle, or if necessary, to perform a task they could not do alone when there were no other options. It was an act of desperation, of weakness when one couldn't perform their duties adequately, but also of sacrifice. To swallow pride and admit imperfection for the goals of the group to be accomplished, to win...made sense. Two different gems fusing did not.

The newness opened its eyes, of which it had two, not the expected three. Long, elegant arms with delicate fingers sparkled in the midday sunlight, refracting turqoises, teals, and the ever-present indigo glow from beneath their skin, illuminating the gentle folds of her gown that draped loosely over her in sheer, flowing sheets piling down onto the ground.

Utterly captivated, the other sapphires gathered to the newness, touching the folds of her gown to confirm that the creature before them was real, and no vision of theirs. Smiling gently, the newness looked over to the Topaz standing across from her, and then the Morganite who still stood slack-jawed in bewildered awe, as she strode over to the governor. 

Grasping her orange hand, the newness raised it up to the gentle slope of her chest, up between the light swelling of her breasts underneath her loose wrappings, and onto the sharp edges of the Emerald's gem, which was still glowing. Gulping audibly and completely overwhelmed, the Morganite stammered a few unintelligible, frustrated words before the newness put her index finger on the governor's mouth, silencing her.

"We are...I am...a deliverance. A means to resurrect the dead of Carses, and the way forward. The ONLY way forward. I am here to fight stasis, to bring about change, and shine my light across this world and others like it. Do you remember, Morganite, what your purpose was?"

Blinking, Morganite tried to think. White Diamond herself posted her on Carses I, being among the original batch of Morganites first cut from Homeworld to manage her new colonies. Her task was to create and manage a perfect colony; a bastion of stability and order, a shining example for other colonies to follow and work towards. She knew now that she had failed.

"My purpose...was to build the perfect society for the Diamonds. A colony under them that would serve perfectly, but stand on its own without their micromanagement. A colony that was a proving ground for civic theory, and a monument to the Empire's greatness."  
  
"Yes. You succeeded in that. Then what happened after?"  
  
Morganite looked out across the gleaming towers of the city, seeing their stark paleness for what it truly was for the first time.   
Aside from the gems, there was no color anywhere.

The sky was grey with white clouds. Any lights on were white. The gems that walked in the same, narrow path worn down through the stone into trenches over aeons walked mechanically to their next predetermined route, as they had billions of times before.

Dead. Still acting alive.

"Then...oblivion. Nothing happened. Nothing new came. No new orders. No new gems or shipments. No new events or news to change things, day after day, year after year. Stasis is death. I killed everyone..."

The newness smiled. "No, my dear Morganite, you did not kill anyone. They expired in their waking sleep. They became as bound to their routine as a shadow is to the one that casts it. You were not at fault. There were no gems to create newness other than the Sapphires and Galaxites. The latter committed effective suicide when they became their own sculptures. The Sapphires waited on dreams and collective hope. One of them saw the horror of what had befallen us, and was saved by love, because when all inspiration, plans, and goals have run their course, the only positive thing left in the world to us is the affection we feel to one another.

"The kindling of love is not bound to the machinations of the Diamonds, the foresight of Sapphires, or the wisdom of Chalcedonies. No, it is inherent to all of us, and a common right. Embrace this wisdom, and you embrace life."

Silence pervaded the pavilion. Others had gathered to witness the tall, captivating presence that had made itself known, and at the end of her monologue, a spark of understanding lept through the crowd. Turning to one another, a few recognized the faces of friends they had not spoken to in aeons. More looked back, and saw the well-trod pathways they had climbed from. And all felt profound sorrow at how much of their lives had been wasted in depthless, tepid mediocrity.

When they looked back again to see the newness, standing tall and speaking truth, their eyes filled with awareness once again. They had awoken to the reality of their obsolete existence, and were filled with terror and wonder.

"What is your name?" some asked,  
  
"Why have the Diamonds abandoned us?!" more cried in despair,  
  
"What will we do now? How will we find meaning in our lives?" The rest wailed, beginning to panic.

A bright indigo glow glared through the crowed, cutting through the panic and easing their anxiety. It waned into a soft turquoise, then as the newness held out her arms, smiling, it locked into a single, dull green shade that cut into the sharp contrasts of the black and white daylight around them.

"I am Jade. The Diamonds have not abandoned us, we have outgrown them. And I have a plan for all of us.

"Listen to your Sapphires, for through them the way forward is seen.

"Follow your Emeralds, for through their bravery and dedication will you draw strength.  
  
"And above all, love what you are. You are the light of this universe, and perfect in every way. The way forward will be difficult, but it will be new. It is the right way because it is the only way, but you should not despair; it is a good way, and all will find a place along the path forward."  
  
The crowd erupted in cheers and desperate wailing as Jade turned to the expectant Sapphires.  
"My sisters, we have work to do."


End file.
